


Aftermath

by RingingSilence



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Bodhi is a lost puppy, Mentions of Major Character Death, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RingingSilence/pseuds/RingingSilence
Summary: Sometimes awful decisions have to be made for the greater good.My attempt at explaining why no one mentions the Scarif incident in the later movies, and what might have happened to Scarif survivors to allow that.





	

Jyn did her best to ignore the dull ache in her chest as she glared around the war room, acutely conscious of the empty places where there should have been people standing.

 _Because you killed them._ A cynical voice whispered to her. _Dragged them into a suicide mission against the rebellion leaders’ wishes._

No one had outright said it to her. The glares and whispers whenever she entered a room were enough.

“The Rogue One team’s efforts were well-intentioned,” Mon Mothma was saying, pulling Jyn from her self-loathing, “but we can’t ignore the fact that they had to go against orders in the face of the number of casualties and ultimate failure of the mission.”

Hatred, white hot and bitter, shot through the newly-turned-rebel and she slammed her open palm on the table. The sharp sting of her burns sharpened her focus on the unshakable rebel leader.

“Your failure to escape with the plans was not our fault!” She ground out between her teeth. “We did everything, _lost_ everything to transmit them off-world-“

“Don’t think that you’re the only one who lost people on that mission, Erso.” General Draven sneered at her from across the table. “Captain Andor and the members of Blue and Red squadron were all part of what we built here long before you decided to join the fight. One might argue-“

“Enough.” Mothma’s stern voice cut off the general and with a grumble he fell quiet. Glancing around the group to be sure there would be no more interruptions, she continued.

“As heroic as the actions of Rogue One were, they still went against orders. They were taxing on our already slim resources and a blow to the morale of the rebellion. No one outside of this room knows exactly what happened on Scarif, and for the unity of the Alliance we are going to have to keep it that way.”

“The official story of the Scarif incident is that it was a small group of Bothan spies attempting to gather intelligence on the Empire’s activities. Unfortunately, they were discovered and executed before any information could make it off-world.”

Jyn shot upright, leaning over the table towards the rebellion leaders.

“You’re creating a cover-up, erasing the involvement of everyone who died to steal those plans?”

“It is for the best.” Mothma met her eye unflinchingly, head held high. “We can’t risk more members of the alliance breaking rank and disobeying orders or it will dissolve into chaos. We need to remain organized.”

“And what of those who were killed? How will you explain them?”

“This is a rebellion.” Draven replied gruffly. “People die every day. There are hundreds of places the casualties could have been lost.”

Jyn tried to form a rebuttal to that, but her mouth went dry and she eventually slumped back into her chair with a heavy sigh.

“So that’s it? You’re just going to pretend they never existed?”

“We must do what is necessary to maintain the Alliance.” A mon calamari further down the table from her sighed. “None of us who were involved will forget their sacrifice, but for the sake of creating a free galaxy once again their involvement will be concealed.”

If there was any other discussion, Jyn didn’t hear it. Fuming, she silently rose from her chair and swept out of the room, the hissing of the doors closing behind her drowned out by the blood rushing in her ears. Her hands itched for a blaster, something to shoot until the world made sense again. Felt _right_ again. Instead, she wandered through the maze of hallways until she reached the landing strip outside. With dusk coming on it was abandoned but for a handful of rebels and droids unloading supplies and getting ships inside for the night. Nobody paid her any mind as she stalked up to a stack of supply crates and tucked herself in its shade, pulling her mother’s pendant out of her shirt and rolling it between her fingers for something to do.

How dare they? Cassian had shown more loyalty to them than she’d seen from anyone in her whole life of fighting, given up everything for the Alliance’s cause and what was it going to get him? Nothing but his name scratched out of history, all for choosing to follow her. Baze and Chirrut, not even official members of the rebellion, weren’t even going to get that much. And the councilors didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge their own part in the failure. They seemed perfectly content to let any blame that slipped past their little cover story land squarely on her. The outsider, the one who’d wanted nothing to do with their rebellion until they had literally dragged her into it and proceeded to kill everything still tying her to this universe. Saw, her father…

 _None of them would have died if it weren’t for you._ _It’s all YOUR fault that they’re dead. You should have stayed in that Imperial prison_. _You should have died on Scarif._

A soft hand on her shoulder jerked her abruptly from her self-loathing and she reacted, seizing the person’s wrist and twisting their arm behind their back. She earned a yelp and her victim stomped the pavement in pain.

“Let me go, it’s me! It’s me!”

Recognizing the man she had pinned to the crates she let him go, slumping back into her spot as he took a few steps back and rubbed his strained shoulder.

“…Sorry, Bodhi.” She muttered, returning to fiddling with her pendant. “I didn’t know it was you.”

The former Imperial-pilot eyed her warily but when she didn’t attack him again he cautiously took a seat on the crate above her. She tried not to notice how he flinched when his fingers grazed the bandages wound up his left arm.

“…I can’t believe it…” He murmured. “I-I mean, ignoring everything we did? Everyone who-“

“What do you want, Bodhi?” She sighed, glancing up at him. The burns on the left side of his face still looked raw and painful, but the defector didn’t seem to feel it or if he did not as badly. He’d said something about a grenade when he’d found her battered and burned in the remains of the Scarif base, but she’d been too out-of-it to understand most of it at the time.

“I thought you m-might like someone to talk to. S-someone who understands.” He stammered, smiling weakly. In the week since the assault, she’d found that he’d simultaneously become more anxious and bolder. It was a bizarre combination, especially since he seemed to have attached himself to her in order to avoid talking with members of the Alliance.

“Thanks,” she muttered, “but I think I just want to get some distance between me and them.” She jerked a thumb back in the rough direction of the base. He sighed in agreement and they lapsed back into an uncomfortable silence. The tension seemed to build and she tapped her foot until it became unbearable. With an irritated sigh she dragged herself to her feet and began stalking towards the hangar. After a moment she heard Bodhi’s footsteps behind her.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know.” She growled. “I just…”

“-Want to get away from this?” Bodhi supplied quietly. She stopped, turning to eye him warily.

“…maybe.”

“You’ll need a pilot.”

Frowning at him speculatively, she turned fully to face him.

“Why would you want to go? I’m not part of the Alliance.”

“Neither am I.” He grinned shakily. “Saw Gerrera…didn’t make me feel very welcome to join.”

“You care about the cause.”

“I only stayed because you and Cassian saved me.”

“I almost-“ Jyn tried to voice the accusation but it caught in her throat. Bodhi’s smile dissolved and he held her gaze sadly.

“It’s not your fault, Jyn.”

“It was my idea.” She growled. “They followed _me_ into that mission.”

“They followed _Cassian_.”

“Who followed me.”

“Because he chose to.” Bodhi insisted quietly. “This was his cause, and he thought your plan would help it, a-and it would have. We had no idea that Vader was going to show up. You didn’t force any of us to come with you, Jyn. W-we chose to go, and what happened isn’t anyone’s fault but the Empire’s.”

Timid Bodhi, the scarred defector pilot, sternly held her gaze until she looked away first.

“…Say we do leave, where do we go? Where is far from both the Empire and the Alliance?”

Slowly, a nervous grin like the one he had shared with her as they pulled through the gate onto Scarif spread across his face and he threw an arm over her shoulders, leading her towards an unattended ship near the edge of the runway.

“I heard about a few places from the other cargo pilots while I was still running supplies for Galen. Tatooine is a planet of sand and vapor farmers technically in Imperial territory but nobody bothers with it. It’s the perfect place for people to disappear.”

Pausing on the ramp onto the ship, she spared a last glance at the towering silhouette of the temple against the dusk sky. After a moment she nodded and turned back to him.

“Disappearing sounds good.”

His grin widened and she let him lead her up into the cockpit, taking the co-pilot’s chair and watching as he slipped into the easy rhythm of pre-takeoff systems checks. As the engines hummed around them, a thought occurred to her and she frowned.

“What about supplies?”

His grin turned equal parts mischievous and sheepish as he flicked the final switch and the ship began leaving the ground.

“I-I’ve actually had this ship prepared to leave since I left the medbay.”

“Why didn’t you leave sooner?”

Pulling up on the controls, he spared another sheepish look at her as they pointed towards the open sky.

“…I didn’t want to be alone.” He admitted. The ship shuddered as it began to pick up speed, the ground falling away behind them. The radio crackled, but neither of them reached to answer it. As the sky began fading to black as they left the atmosphere of Yavin IV, she managed a small smile and clapped a hand on Bodhi’s shoulder.

“To Tatooine?”

Grinning again, Bodhi flicked on the warp drive and they both pressed back into their seats as the stars blurred around them. Neither of them were okay, but as they blasted towards wherever that force-forsaken rock was in the galaxy she dared to hope that at least neither of them would have to be alone. Not this time.


End file.
